The Acting President of the Vaileka Market Vendors Association Gopal Naicker says they will not be able to pay the proposed vendor license fees under the draft market regulations if it comes into effect.
Naicker says they had a meeting with the Ministry last week and were given time to discuss the draft regulation with their members.
He says almost 160 members who attended the meeting yesterday have decided that they cannot afford the proposed market license fee and they will make their submission soon.
He adds their income has already dropped due to the recent cyclones and flooding and this will put an extra burden on the vendors.
The President of the Lautoka Market Vendors Association, Filomena Ditukana says there is no problem in the process undertaken by the Ministry of Local Government as the Ministry is just taking submissions from them.
Ditukana says they had a zoom meeting with a consultant and it was facilitated by the Local Government Ministry.
She says they were given two weeks to prepare the submissions and they also consulted the vendors on the draft market regulations.
Ditukana has refused to comment on their submissions and says it will remain with them until they present it to the Minister for Local Government.
Meanwhile Minister for Local Government Premila Kumar is urging people to disregard the draft market regulations.
Kumar says vendor license fees will never be introduced because they know vendors are already going through a lot of challenges.
She says it is unfortunate that a consultant's document which was intended for internal discussion has been released to the media.
Kumar says they do not undertake decisions based on a consultant's draft report which will go under rigorous consultations and internal vetting which has not been done yet.
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